Criminal Minds...

Of late I have started to become a big fan of this serial. This crime thriller is very different from others as it tries to concentrate on the criminal rather than the crime. The plots are generally well written and the psycho analysis and profiling of the unsub revealing the insides of the mind which have committed the crime keeps one interested to the last. But the thing which I like most is that the episode starts with a an idiom setting up the context of the whole episode and ends with and idiom summarizing the episode or summarizing the lessons to be learnt from it(be it moral or any other virtue). What I will do is to try and list out all those idioms from each and every episode. A long drawn process but I think it is worth the effort. It has been able to have an influence on my mind and hoping it may have an effect on you to...So keep track of this post as I am going to update it after every episode I see..

Episode 1.1:
Joseph Conrad said, "The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."

Emerson said, "All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle."

Winston Churchill said "The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see."

Nietzsche once said, "When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks into you."

Episode 1.2:
Faulkner once said, "Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."

Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

Episode 1.3:
Samuel Johnson wrote, "Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble."

Episode 1.4:
French poet Jacques Rigaut said, "Don't forget that I cannot see myself. My role is limited to being the one who looks in the mirror."

Rose Kennedy once said, "Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them."

Episode 1.5:
Euripides said, "When a good man is hurt, all who would be called good must suffer with him."

Euripides said, "When love is in excess it brings a man no honor nor worthiness."

Episode 1.6:
Nietzsche wrote, "The irrationality of a thing is not an argument against its existence, rather a condition of it."

Shakespeare wrote, "Nothing is so common as the wish to be remarkable."

Episode 1.7:
Gideon: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Episode 1.8:
Hemingway wrote, "There is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else.”

Carl Jung said, "The healthy man does not torture others. Generally, it is the tortured who turn into torturers.”

Episode 1.9:
Robert Oxton Bolt once wrote, "A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind."

Albert Einstein said, "The question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or the others crazy?"

Episode 1.10:
Eugene Ionesco said, "Ideology separates us. Dreams and anguish bring us together."

Sir Peter Ustinov said, "Unfortunately, a super abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares."

Episode 1.11:
Harriet Beecher Stowe once said "The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."

Episode 1.12:
"Measure not the work until the day's out and the labor done," Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

"The poet, W. H. Auden wrote, 'Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table.'"

Episode 1.13:
Roman philosopher Lucretius said, "What is food to one, is to others bitter poison."

Confucius once said, "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."

Episode 1.14:
Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. (Genesis 9:6)

Albert Pine said, "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal."

Episode 1.15:
Norman Maclean wrote, "It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us."

Episode 1.16:
Nietzsche wrote, "The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe."

Episode 1.17:
Gandhi said, "Better to be violent if there's violence in our hearts than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence."

Gandhi also said, "I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary. The evil it does is permanent."

W. H. Auden said, "Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society must take the place of the victim and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness.

Episode 1.18:
Diane Arbus once said, "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know."

Bernard Shaw once said, "An American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means. There is no such thing in the country."

Episode 1.19:
Anthony Brandt wrote, "Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."

Mexican proverb, “The house does not rest upon the ground, but upon a woman.”

Episode 1.20:
The author François de la Rochefoucauld wrote, "We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves."

The French philosopher Voltaire wrote, "There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts."

Episode 1.21:
Albert Einstein said, "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as judge in the field of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."

George Orwell said, "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

Episode1.22:
Writer Elbert Hubbard said, "No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one."

Episode 2.1:
"The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind." French writer François de la Rochefoucauld.

"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone." Rose Kennedy.

Episode 2.2:
Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said "The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children."

Episode 2.3:
Mark Twain wrote "Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it."

Philosopher Kahlil Gibran wrote "Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."

Episode 2.4:
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth," Oscar Wilde

"The basis of shame is not some personal mistake of ours, but that this humiliation is seen by everyone," Milan Kundera

Episode 2.5:
Helen Keller once said "Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."

Episode 2.6:
Plato wrote "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."

Episode 2.7:
Legendary basketball coach John Wooden said: "It's not so important who starts the game, but who finishes it."
"The ultimate choice for a man, in as much as he is driven to transcend himself, is to create or to destroy, to love or to hate." Erich Fromm

Episode 2.8:
Robespierre wrote "Crime butchers innocence to secure a prize, and innocence struggles with all its might against the attempts of crime."

Episode 2.9:
Elbert Hubbard once wrote "If men could only know each other, they would never either idolize or hate."

Mahatma Gandhi once said "All through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall, always."

Episode 2.10:
Dale Turner mused "Some of the best lessons are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom of the future."

Ralph Waldo Emerson said "In order to learn the important lessons in life, one must, each day, surmount a fear."

Episode 2.11:
T.S. Eliot wrote "Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act, falls the shadow."

T.S. Eliot wrote "Between the desire and the spasm, between the potency and the existence, between the essence and the descent, falls the shadow. This is the way the world ends."


Episode 2.12:
All secrets are deep. (sic) All secrets become dark. That's in the nature of secrets — writer Cory Doctorow.

Episode 2.13:
Aristotle said, "Evil brings men together."

Episode 2.14:
Condemned murderer Perry Smith said of his victims, the Clutter family "I didn't have anything against them and they never did anything wrong to me, the way other people have all my life. Maybe they're just the ones who have to pay for it."

Episode 2.15:
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20

Episode 2.16:
"From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate." Socrates

“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living." Cicero

Episode 2.17:
"Our life is made by the death of others." Leonardo da Vinci

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." Thomas Paine

Episode 2.18:
Robert Kennedy once said "Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live."

Episode 2.19:
"The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul," John Calvin.

Gandhi said "Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever."

Episode 2.20:
An old Russian proverb reminds us, "There can be no good without evil."

"Happy families are all alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in it's own way," Leo Tolstoy.

Episode 2.21:
The British historian James Anthony Froude once said, "Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself."

Episode 2.22:
"Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity, nothing exceeds the criticisms made of the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed." Herman Melville.

"Nothing is permanent in this wicked world— not even our troubles," Charles Chaplin.

Episode 2.23:
"I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellect." Oscar Wilde.

For an addict, By an addict

This new post is relevant especially for those who are addicts. I hope that I would be able to connect to them as this post is by an addict for an addict. "Of the people" missed the bus because of my inability to put my thoughts into this category.
I would like to invite all the smokers, alcoholics or people suffering from any other form of drug addiction to read through and tell me whether I was able to throw some form of light on this particular topic or not.
Firstly I will have to confess that I am addicted to cigarettes. I started smoking in the summers of 2004 (3rd year of my college). Before I began smoking the opinion which I had was that drinking alcohol in controlled amount is classy and cool whereas smoking cigarettes is one of the most pathetic thing to do. I simply hated it. Moreover more often than not my folks at home use to suspect "me" of smoking than my friend who had actually smoked. But with me being financially independent for the first time during my summer internship in Bangalore I started to frequent pubs 3-4 times in a week. Hence came the pressure to support my affinity towards pubs and their rocking music and atmosphere with whatever little I was earning. Within a few visits I realized that one can stay in the pub as long as one is consuming something or the other from their menu. It doesn’t matter whether one is drinking the same first for an hour. What matters is you holding on to something or the other. So as to save money and to prolong my stay to enjoy the ambiance, a simple solution was clearly visible. The solution was to bring in a pack of cigarette ...drink less…smoke a lot…and enjoy the music as long the smoke last.

Like any other addict I started off small. Now you will say that a pack of smoke on a pub day is not small. But this routine was only applicable for two months. After that it was back to simpler life of my college. There is a reason why cigarettes, alcohol etc. cause addiction. Once a person has a taste of it then these items find their own reason to ensure their consumption. So back in my college after a small break their was no reason why I needed to smoke but as a mortal I got entangled in the web of temptation woven by the white and brown stick which was always eager to be consumed. Thus the reason was simple to keep myself awake in night and to convince myself that it was the right thing to do all I had to say that it is important for my studies to stay awake and what better way to do it than to smoke away your sleep.
I have come a long way from smoking alone in my hostel room to smoking 10-12 sticks a day. In my last year of college most of my friends and batch mates had started smoking. In the absence of three fourth of my batch mates who were doing 4 year course my cigarettes were able to make their own group of friends. Now I no more had to worry about not getting a smoke. If I did not have any, their were other suicidal cigarettes with my friends who were willing to be burnt alive by not only a single owner but multiple partners at the same. Slowly and steadily these sticks were able to increase their number because I think they prefer mass suicide. All their effort ,be it changing the brain mapping of their owner or making the owner borrow for their sake, goes into ensuring the success of mass suicide concept.

With college getting over and me finally getting the financial freedom these happy go lucky form of sticks were able to ensure that they had even more friends. So now from a smoke or two a day to 5-6 smoke a day in last year of my college I was smoking 12-14 cigarettes a day. With increase in frequency I started to feel its effect on my body. The effect was negative after all against any hope. 7-8 months have passed since then and I have to experiment with amazing results.

The experiments which I keep on doing on myself tests my will power. Sometimes I do not smoke for half a day. The results are amazing. I felt energetic and good about myself with better awareness of my surroundings. So if you want to know why I haven’t quit yet. The answer is simple its hard to quit. When I go back home whether for a week or two I don’t smoke. To me I feel the people around the addict have a bigger responsibility in making an addict quit his/her habit. Its a paradox though. On one hand one expects people who are closest to the addict to support unconditionally but more often than not it is very difficult for such a person. Such a person who has suffered because of his/her closest one addiction will break down at some point of other. So rather being supportive that person may turn accusative towards the addict. It’s a very delicate balance which has to be maintained between an addict and his/her loved ones and if the addiction gets prolonged over greater period of time then the support which may help an addict stand again is doomed to be withdrawn and leave the addict on his/her own fate. My friends these words are applicable to not only a smoker but alcoholics and all other form of addicts. This is not said by me just like that but from my own life experience.

Enough have been said by others responsibility but the first and foremost onus lies on the addict him(her)self. Admitting and accepting the problem is the first step. The second is the willingness to solve the problem. I know its very hard for an addict to do so , thus the requirement for the proper support system. I also feel that the health warnings can never restrict an addict. I can go to the extent and say its always the good which an addict feel about him(her)self can only help in quitting and never these doctors advice. These kind of threats can only work with a newbie but not with a person who have been addicted to a habit for a long time.Sleeping is the best way to quit an addiction and in absence of time it gets even harder to find out a way and rectify oneself. It’s a vicious circle which takes a very hard grip on an addict and its not easy to break free from it. But one day, with each small step it is achievable. I believe that and please you also believe so.

All I want to say is that “O my fellow addicts try quitting for a day and sleep the whole day. The energy and happiness experienced is comparable to none. Do it once, do it again and I know one day I will be able to free myself from this addiction and you will be able to do the same”.

Victoria Boland

One hears Shania Twain, one hears Celene Dion, Tina Turner, Patsy Cline , Buddy Holly, Bruce Springsteen, Mike Jagger, Cher...the list may go on and on... People belonging to my psyche would devour any kind of good music. The side effect being the list of artists and songs of my liking has become infinite...Then I came across Victoria Boland and I realize that I really dont have to remember any of them but her.. With such a strong and versatile voice she is able to justice to all these singers and more at the same time. I am no critique to pass judgement on her performances but I know what I am now. I am a big fan of hers and I would leave you all to see and hear her and decide on your own. http://www.victoriaboland.com/ can be a good place to start your journey and I am convinced that at the end of it you will be fully satisfied.

Who are Good (Blog) Writers...

I don't know why am I writing this but all I can reason out is that I have nothing to do on this beautiful weekend in Bangalore.
Their use to be a time when I was able to write from the heart. If I look back at my previous posts I find them to be lacking in fluency. Their seems to be a lack of flow exposing my limited knowledge of english language. Often when I write I struggle to express myself due to lack of words. Ultimately it gets boiled down to random thougths haphazardly condensed in a single post. My free time made me ponder over the question who are good blog writers. Who are able to web up an engrossing story. Who are able to keep the readers attention to the very last word.
Generally the argument for good writing skills falls in favour of those who have great command over their language. But I would ike to differ.
The opinion which I have is that anyone is able to write a good enough blog depending upon that person's emotional attachment to the subject. So its rather the strength of ones feeling than mastery of a particular language which determines the degree of so called "goodness" of ones blog. This has lead me to the conclusion that these emotions and intensity is where I am lacking at the moment. Sometimes I feel that I have lost not only my intensity and emotions but along with that my ability to dream. Dreams which makes one achieve anything this world. Dreams which keeps one alive and kicking.
Investigating furthur I found out that to have an opinion about anything in life one needs to have focus and a purpose to strive for. The presence of a purpose makes all other aspects and pieces to fall in place. This presence ensures that one enjoys and cherish other aspects of life. Its like a chain reaction. Its like an experience person trying to determine the time of his life which were the happiest and finding out it was those time when he was actually struggling towards a goal were the most satisfying.
Like when I was preparing for JEE I had a purpose. It was during those times I was living life to the fullest whether it was talking and chilling out with friends or watching television or celebrating festival. I use to cherish them all within the tight schedule I had.
But my baptism into the corporate world has sapped all my zeal towards life. I don't know whether it has happened to anyone else but i would like to believe I am not the only one. Since the passion is no more there ,its absence has neutralized any happiness which was obtained by the opinions I had. In the end I have reached a state in which I am excited about almost nothing. Probably thats why I envy those who are able to enjoy their work. Its not that I dont enjoy the technical aspects of work rather its motonous nature has put me off big time.
In the end my simple understanding makes me believe that the purpose and focus in ones life is what drives one to excel in anything one does. Whether its writing a simple blog ...or to excel in sports...In simple words...world then becomes a place for limitless opportunity